Midnight Animal (Film)
[Animal poster.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The original poster by [http://spinebender.deviantart.com/ SpineBender re-used for Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.]] Midnight Animal is a fictional slasher-crime film featured in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Produced by Galaxy Film, directed by Rouven Blankenfeld and starring Martin Brown and Rachael Ward, it is inspired by the "Miami maniac murders", i.e. Jacket's actions in Hotline Miami. It is likely released at some point before December 9th, 1991. Cast *Martin Brown as The Pig Butcher *Rachael Ward as The Girl *David Bradshow *Roger Stephen *Vernon Wells Plot summary Note: the description is based on in-game information, the comics and promotional material (the latter may not be canon, or be only partially canon to the in-game universe.) The film focuses on a serial killer named "Pig Butcher", an obese, muscular psychopath who receives orders to kill from a hallucinatory pink telephone and who wears a pig mask during his killing sprees. The Butcher's murders include: killing the cashier in a store, an entire family in their own house, a group of teenagers in their apartment,Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Digital Comic #3 and a bunch of Russian mobstersWear Something Fancy Trailer. Eventually, the Butcher invades a house and kills several teenagers during a party. He rapes a helpless girl, then abducts her and takes her to his home, chaining her to the bathtub. The girl manages to free herself while the Pig Butcher is asleep. She escapes and calls the police, who arrive at the Butcher's home to arrest him. At the pink phone's behest, he goes with the police willingly, so that they will take him to the girl. While being interrogated at the police station, he makes use of the interrogator's moment of distraction and kills him, then proceeds to massacre his way through the police station towards the room where the girl is giving her statement. As he bursts into the room, the girl yells that she's "not his fucking girlfriend" and shoots him with a pistol several times, killing him. Relationship to the events of Hotline Miami Specific elements of the movie mirror the events of Hotline Miami, and give some insight to how Jacket's rampage is perceived by the public: * The rape and abduction of the girl refers to Jacket's rescue of Girlfriend. In-game newspapers in the first game state that Jacket was captured on security cameras as he "abducted" an "unidentified female" from the Producer's villa. Similarly, in issue #1 of the comic, a news report on the Jacket's capture reminds the viewers that the killer was recorded kidnapping a girl from the house of a "famous movie producer", and that she was later found dead "in an apartment downtown". * The killer is shown wearing a pig mask. To the general public, the animals masks worn by Jacket would have been one of the more memorable elements of his murders. Note that in Hotline Miami, the pig mask (Aubrey) is unlocked right before the Decadence chapter, thus suggesting that Jacket was canonically wearing the mask during the events of the chapter and as he was captured on camera (although in issue #1 of the comic, the security footage shows him wearing the Richard Mask instead.) * The Pig Butcher being urged to kill by phantom calls on a nonexistent pink phone refers to Jacket's statements (as cited by his defense attorney) that he was ordered to kill by the messages on his answering machine. Evidently, the general public is skeptical towards these claims. * The massacre in the police station echoes the events of Assault. * In Final Cut, the Pig Butcher is shown to die at the hands of the girl, who executes him with a shot to the head. This is the opposite of the events of Holtine Miami, ''in which the girl has already died before the police station raid, and Jacket remains alive to be prosecuted in ''Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. ** It is possible that the "few more shots" that The Director mentioned would have depicted the Pig Butcher recovering from his wounds in the hospital and tracking down the girl and killing her. This would return Midnight Animal ''to the canonical end-state of the first game, but would reverse the order of the police raid and hospital visit. Depiction in ''Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number * Opening Sequence * Finale Sequence * Into the Pit newspaper on December 9th: ** Galaxy Film once again received heavy critique over latest block buster... ...sparked a controversy over the film adaptation of Miami maniac murders. ** Note: This seems to date Midnight Animal as being finished by now, hinting the December 28th interview is a posthumous rerun. * Apocalypse: on December 28th can air an interview with Martin Brown. Depiction in Promotional Material * "Wear Something Fancy" trailer for Hotline Miami implies the Pig Butcher is the game's protagonist. * Digital Comic #3 features Martin Brown killing a family, a clerk, and several teenagers. References Category:In-Game Universe